Made in China, sold in Mexico: what you don't know about the stars and stripes

By Meena Thiruvengadam, Digital First Media

Posted:
02/24/2014 08:57:30 AM MST

U.S. Olympian films an American flag in Sochi, Russia. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

The most American icon of them all isn't always made in the U.S.A.

The U.S. Department of Defense on last week revealed a very unpatriotic secret: It's been buying American flags that are anything but all American.

The DOD buys an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 flags a year to fly over the Pentagon, at military bases and on ships. It buys flags primarily from American manufacturers, but those manufacturers sometimes use foreign supplies like inks and cotton. The DOD also may have been buying some flags manufactured wholly overseas.